There are many kinds of shade structures and they are put to many types of use. Commonly, they are used to create shade from the sun at the rear of homes, but may also be used in commercial and industrial settings.
A typical shade structure comprises posts that hold aloft a water proof fabric sheet by cross connected roof pipes, the angle of cross connection being determined prior to “on site” welding of the roof support arrangement. The pipes used in such roof support arrangements have flanges welded thereto that cross connect the pipes when a bolt is passed through a common hole formed when the two flanges overlap. The setting of the bolt in this predetermined position prohibits slight adjustment of the relative positions or angle of cross connection of the pipes that may be necessary to counter any unforeseen inaccuracies during “on site” construction, such as those that may arise from variation in the post height or the level of the ground.
These inaccuracies are particularly pronounced in the “on site” construction of shade structures in which the cross connected pipes define an arched roof support arrangement, where pipes serving as linear bearers and extending in a first direction are connected with pipes serving as curved rafters and extending in a cross direction. For each curved rafter, a slightly different angle of connection is required at different locations along its length where it is cross connected with a respective bearer so as to attain an optimum contour of roof support arrangement for tightly fitting a water proof fabric sheet thereto.
It has been found by the present inventor that none of the prior art methods of cross connecting pipes in a roof support arrangement of a shade structure allow for slight adjustment of the angle of cross connection of the pipes during “on site” construction that would counter any unforeseen inaccuracies in the pipe angles and attain the optimum contour mentioned above.